InsaneJournal

Steel rings on steel, then the two fighters break apart. Aya's breathing hard, and a scorched smell lingers on the air as he stares at the other man. Schwartz is gone, but others have moved in, and their replacements are just as strange.

Like his current opponent. Spiked red hair, tattoos under his eyes and a black leather coat that seems to be some kind of uniform. He's more outrageous in his appearance than Schuldig ever was, and the weapons in his hands are limned with fire. Pyrokinesis, Omi called it, and Aya wonders why the bad guys always get the psychic powers. He's already suffered a few minor burns, and thinks the wickedly-edged disks promise major pain if he lets a real blow land.

A flash of light briefly illuminates the concrete walls of the empty yard they're fighting in, and then a rumble of thunder proceeds a sudden downpour. The thunderstorm that had been threatening for hours is here, and they're rapidly getting soaked.

Aya's lips tighten.

Across from him, the stranger scowls. “Dammit, I hate weather like this.” The flames that edge his weapons seem unaffected by the wet, but he straightens from his fighter's crouch and they go out. Seconds later, the weapons vanish, too.

“I'm not getting paid enough to fight in this shit,” he announces. “I'm going home to my nice warm apartment, and I'm gonna have a nice cold drink. Wanna come?”

Aya blinks at him in astonishment. “Shouldn't you be defending the warehouse full of drugs back there?”

The stranger shrugs. “They're not my drugs. My organisation's an independent contractor, and like I said, they're not paying me enough to stay out in a fuckin' thunderstorm all night long. Screw 'em.” He gives Aya a cocky grin. “Anyway, my name's Axel. That's A-X-E-L. Got it memorised?”

Aya has, but mostly so he can give it to Omi later, and they can maybe find out something more about their newest rivals.

“So, what's yours?”

“Why should I tell you?” Aya says, low and hostile.

Axel shakes his head. “Drinks, remember? Don't tell me you want to keep fighting in this crappy weather.”

Not particularly, but that doesn't translate to going for drinks with the enemy. Besides. Axel may not be getting paid enough for this, but Aya has a mission to carry out, and the rest of his team are depending on him. He's wasted enough time already.

He's about to say as much when Axel frowns. “You still haven't told me your name. You're not having some kind of identity crisis, are you? My last boyfriend had one of those, and it sucked; he ended up taking off to 'find himself', or some such bullshit. I'm so not doing that again.”

Boyfriend? Aya scowls harder. The invitation for a drink could be taken as friendly, if misguided; his opponent doesn't seem to be playing with a full deck. But the last statement makes it clear that yes, Axel is coming onto him.

He's tempted to tell the other man that his name's Aya, and he borrowed it from his sister. Now that Aya-chan's awake, he's had plenty of teasing from his team-mates over his chosen name and the confusion of having two Ayas in the same family. Surely that would be enough of an identity crisis to scare him off?

But there's no reason to tell Axel anything; he has no intention of taking him up on the offer, now or in the future. Just like he never took Schuldig up on any of his offers.

Or Yohji, either.

As he prepares to say something – anything – scathing enough to make it clear that he's not interested, Aya wonders.

What is it about him that always attracts the perverts?